“There are people speaking ahead.”

We creep forward, as quiet as possible. My footsteps are light, but I can’t help but wince whenever my boots scuff against rock.

The tunnel splits in three paths. The one on the right — with all the scratch marks — also splits further in.

“The voices are definitely coming from where the scratch marks lead.” Jav’s voice is almost too quiet to make out, even as close as I am.

The volan turns his head back, looking over my shoulder at Remus. The dohrni nods to Jav in some unspoken agreement before we walk toward the voices.

The moment Jav passes into the right tunnel, he stops and tilts his head, listening for what I still cannot hear. He leaves Bunny at the front and dashes back to the branching section.

“The voices are coming from this way as well,” he says. “They are quieter, but I can still hear them.”

Without even turning to see if we are following, he begins his trek through the tunnel unmarred by scratches. The order we walk flips and now Remus is ahead and Bunny is behind.

As we creep through the tunnel, a faint murmur tickles the back of my ears. The indistinct echo of voices finally becomes audible. High pitched and squeaky, the chorus of conversation amplifies with each curve in the tunnel.

I clench my fingers around the shaft of my spear. Each step taken with the utmost care. I hold my breath and breathe through my flames, doing my utmost to keep them as physical as I can. The last thing I want is to give off light now.

The cave narrows as it inclines upward. I cringe as Tetsu squeezes her way through the tight passage, dragging her body across rock.

I can hear individual voices now. They are all high pitched, but there is a distinct difference between some of them. They laugh and joke and speak in rapid sentences, but I still can’t make out their words.

This isn’t some animal’s squeaks or barks. Despite it not yet being distinct enough for me to hear, it clearly has the structure of language. These are people ahead of us.

I haven’t heard any race speak with such shrill voices, but there is no doubt in my mind that whatever is down there, they are intelligent.

I thought nobody had been down here before us? Did these people leave that pie back at our entrance?

Bunny knocks a rock loose from the ceiling and I freeze at the loud clank sound it makes as it clatters along the ground behind me. I’m not the only one to do so; both the two at the front and Tetsu herself stop, cringing at the sound.

The sound of chatter stops.

None of us dare move. We remain motionless for a good minute before the conversing starts once more. Although it is stays somewhat subdued to before. No longer do the high-pitched voices laugh and joke; they keep their volume restrained.

Remus raises a limb at Tetsu and while her face drops into a frown, she nods in acceptance. The two ahead of me continue on, leaving her behind. I scuttle after them, not wanting to miss out when I hadn’t been told to stay behind.

Past Remus, the tunnel opens up. He stops just before the tunnel drops into a cavern. The voices are loud now, echoing off the walls and amplifying their words. I peek around the other two as they look down into the cave.

Our tunnel ends at a five metre drop. From our vantage point, five short figures are… well, not clear, but visible. The darkness shrouds them too much to make out any details, but their slender forms are about the same height as me.

I strain my hearing, trying to make out the words over the intense echo and their companions’ constant interruptions.

“—hate these tunnels. They creep me out.”

“I know what you mean. I’m seeing shadows in the corner of my eyes.”

“And to think we still have to wait months down here. I’m gonna go insane.”

“Stop complaining, you lot.” A sixth figure appears from seemingly nowhere. They march out of the shrouding darkness toward the five other figures huddling around each other. “Our casualty rate has been rather low so far. You should celebrate that these tunnels are safer than the plains.”

“Safer? You’re joking! We know nothing about what’s down here. We lose someone at almost every second branching tunnel. At least on the surface, we can run and hide. We know what we are dealing with up there. If anything wanders into this cave, we have nowhere to run!”

The sixth sits amongst the others. “Do you not believe our task noble? A bit of time in an eerie cave is nothing if we can succeed. Or do you consider yourself more important than our cause?”

“O-of course not, Forvaal. It’s just hard to imagine the beyond as anything but a folktale.”

“Fear not; it is real. Even with these rotted eyes, I saw it for myself. Under the deep blue sky, I stood unobscured. And yet, here I stand.” The speaker takes a moment before continuing. “The calamity has given us this path. We must secure it before the all-powerful Kalma returns. Even she will not touch us should we persevere.”

The response to his fervent speech is subdued, but I can still hear murmurs of agreement.

Where are these beings from? They can’t actually be from the other side of the Alps, can they? Maybe there is somewhere in the mountains they come from. But… what is their goal? Some place called the beyond? Unless they mean the Stepps and the land back that way. If that’s right, then they might know a way back up.

I glance over at Remus to see what he thinks. We can’t just go down and introduce ourselves. I’ve seen enough of the races to know it isn’t uncommon for them to be hostile toward the unfamiliar. Actually, I wouldn’t say it’s unlikely for them to be aggressive to those of their own. The Empire showed no hesitance in Zadok.

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Remus is still watching over the group. All five of them continue to talk amongst each other.

Wait five? What happened to the sixth? As I peer into the dark, I notice the one they called Forvaal has gone missing.

If only it was a bit brighter, I could see where they went. The voices continue talking, either ignoring their missing friend or not noticing their lack of presence.

“So, Piiv. Are your kits joining us anytime soon?”

“Riis will. I haven’t heard from the other three in a year.”

“Oh, that’s horrible. I really liked Iraas. That hob hated when it was his time to become independent.”

“Yes. I just hope it wasn’t the centzon or revontulet. It would be horrible if they had to suffer before their end.”

Remus backs away from the ledge, snapping me away from eavesdropping further. We ever so slowly move back through the tunnel until we reach Bunny. Remus makes a motion with his limb and she crawls back the way we came.

As soon as we are far enough away not to be heard, Jav speaks.

“Have you ever seen one of those beings before?” he asks, angling his head toward Remus.

“No. Never,” he says. “I never thought it was possible, but I think they are from the other side of the Alps.”

“What should we do?”

“We need to report this,” Bunny says, only to receive an annoyed glance from Jav.

“And how do you propose we do that? In case you’ve forgotten, we still don’t have a way to get back to the surface.”

“Yes, we do.” Remus’ eyes stare through the darkness toward the camp of strange creatures.

His words make me narrow my eyes and I glare at him. He knows a way out? And he hasn’t said it until now?

Before I can jump to any more conclusions, he continues. “Those beings. They mentioned they’d seen our side… assuming ‘the beyond’ is our side of the Alps. If we follow them, we might find our way out.”

That… might work, but didn’t they mention they would be there for months? I’d really rather not be down here so long. How long would I last before the knot of my psyche makes me do something excessive?

“That might take a while, and none of us are adept at skulking. Also, there’s something else I should say.” Jav waits until he has everyone’s attention before continuing. “I’ve been keeping track of our position. Right now, we should have been well above the ground near the crevasse. I’m not sure whether the world here acts stranger than the Middle Elevation, or that group of creatures is between us and our home. Either way… I’m lost,” Jav struggles to admit.

“So we’ll have to find our way around them if we want to determine if these tunnels open into the crevasse. Could that be how they made it to the surface?” Remus ponders.

“Like I said, I don’t know. If my senses were accurate, we should have breached the surface days ago.”

Remus’ eyes flicker to Grímr. “Whatever we decide, we shouldn’t rush. I think it’s time to search some of those tunnels those beings haven’t charted. Maybe we can find Grímr a body.”

With our objective decided, we move out once more. Bunny takes the lead and we carefully look down the scratched tunnels for any of those creatures before we sneak through them.

We move away far enough that my body relaxes, the beings behind us too far to hear even if we make a ruckus. As we trek through a slightly wider part of the tunnel, I feel something odd above me. Even as I look up, I can’t tell anything different about the stone ceiling, so I return my attention to Tetsu’s back.

I’m just about to practice thrusting my spear again when an explosive crash booms behind me. A rush of air billets my outfit and dust spreads around us.

I turn. Not fast enough. It feels like I’m moving in slow motion. Behind me, one of those beings I overheard before has Remus pinned to the ground. Its sharp fangs dig into the dohrni’s head as he struggles underneath the creature.

It is an extremely slender creature with four legs and a tail. Its forelegs have each of Remus’ limbs trapped, even as he whips out, striking at the being’s side. Its fur is oddly the same colour and texture as the stone ceiling above us.

I’m snapped out of my stupor as Bunny tugs me away, brushing past me with a short-sword raised to strike at the ambusher. The creature snaps its head to her, releasing Remus from his bite but not the pinning grasp.

Its eyes are a cloudy grey, but as it stares at Bunny bearing down on it with her blade, they glow. The grey light intensifies the closer she gets.

Her sword comes down on the creature, but it doesn’t flinch. I feel a rush of shock as the blade bursts into dust the moment it strikes the beast’s fur.

Before she can adjust to the loss of her weapon, another of those creatures drop on Bunny from above. I can’t help but doubt my eyes as she struggles against the wiry looking form of the creature that drops on her. Bunny grapples with it, but it’s obviously comparable to her in strength.

“Solvei, go! Take Grímr and run!”

I don’t even think twice. My feet take me away without a moment’s hesitation. I can’t even turn around to watch them being overwhelmed.

My mind is in conflict. I want to go back and burn through those that would harm my team. But at the same moment, my mind won’t risk it. My legs are snatched away and make me sprint through the tunnels against my will.

Tiny, hurried taps scratch at my neck. I look down at Grímr, who frantically gestures behind me. I turn to see one of the creatures rushing me down faster than anything has a right to.

The being cuts the distance between us faster than I can take a step. Its claws pierce through my chest and I can feel it tearing through the back of my outfit.

The creature’s intelligent eyes stare into my own with surprise, but no remorse.

Flames explode out of me, engulfing the slender creature with intense heat. They incinerate the creature’s fur, but I can feel I won’t be able to get far through its skin.

The creature squeals. A high-pitched shriek that almost competes with that of a bat. It pulls its claws back to itself and desperately tries to put out the fire.

I use its moment of distraction to run. I can’t continue down the tunnels with their scratch marks, they’ll just catch up to me once they realise the fire isn’t going to kill them.

They were hidden along the ceiling. That’s how they caught us off guard. Their fur blends perfectly against the rock they clung to, so there is no way to see them. If there are any ahead of me, I need to make sure before I get ambushed.

My flames spread over every wall through the tunnel before and behind me. I’m indiscriminate. I don’t know if their camouflage can hide from my probing flame, so I scorch every surface I come across.

Ahead of me, I feel the tunnel split three ways. Behind me, the creature has finally shaken off its fright and has resumed its chase after me. There is no time to waste. It’ll be on me in moments.

I dash down the tunnel with only a single set of scratch marks. One of them came down here before and didn’t return. I can only hope that whatever killed it won’t be dangerous to me.

My flames reaching ahead of me burn through roots dangling from the rock above. It’s strange, but the roots seem to angle towards the heat of my flame. They grasp at it and try to hook into it, but my fire burns through it with ease.

I realise the familiarity of this taste almost too late to stop it. Thankfully, I pull the heat out of my flames before it reaches through the rock in the ceiling. Any later and the entire tunnel would be engulfed in an explosion. A waste for it to go off before my pursuer reaches me.

I grab Grímr off my shoulder, uncaring how rough my grip may be. I push him under my hood and tighten it closed. It’s about to get rather sticky, and I don’t know how well his small body could handle an explosion of that intensity.

The roots grab at me, showing far greater strength than their thin width would suggest. I burn them off each time they grab me, but only as far as they can reach me. The more there to slow the creature behind me, the better.

When I finally reach the base of the fungi tube filled with sticky substance, I risk a glance behind me. The being rushes around the corner with terrifying speed. What’s more terrifying, is that it is no longer alone. Two more of its brethren follow in its steps.

I pull myself into the tunnel above, covering myself in the viscid liquid as I worm my way up. Without a second of hesitation, the creatures follow me.

I can’t help but sneer at them. They better hope their ugly snouts can handle a bit of heat.